


Of Magic and by Magic

by Aranei



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Magic Revealed, Mpreg, Non-Canonical Character Death, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:17:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1189956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aranei/pseuds/Aranei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur are kidnapped by an evil sorcerer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Magic and by Magic

**Author's Note:**

> This story, though it may not seem like it, was inspired by Of His Heart by Supernaturalwhoviangame. It's a great story. You should read it.

Merlin rolled over on his side and thought about taking just five more minutes. The sun was coming up over the trees and he could hear the early morning birds as if they were singing good morning just to him. The air was crisp and clean but he was not looking forward to the cool that would greet him as soon as he got up.

Arthur, however, had other plans. He got up, took care of his personal business and then was on Merlin to get up. ""Come on slug bug, get up." Arthur tossed pebbles at him as he rolled up his bedroll.

Merlin kept his eyes shut tight and pulled his blanket a little tighter. "Five more minutes."

"No more minutes. Get up Merlin." Arthur kicked him on the butt as he moved toward the horses.

Merlin grabbed his backside, "Ow. That was uncalled for."

"Get up Merlin. I want to get going." Arthur adjusted the saddle on his horse.

"That doesn't entitle you to kick me in the bum." Merlin sat and rubbed his hands through his hair.

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" Arthur teased as he walked over to stand in front of Merlin.

"Gods No!" The horrified look on Merlin's face made Arthur laugh. "Then let's get rolling."

Merlin stood up and started for the bushes, mumbling under his breath, "Prat."

"Where do you think you are going?" Arthur inquired.

"I was going to pee in private but if you would rather I can stand here and pee on your boots." Merlin quipped.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Hurry up."

Merlin had barely started to step away when a strange, strong smell assaulted him wrapping its scent around his brain and pulling him under. As he felt himself hit the forest floor he heard the sounds of someone approaching. Rough hand pulled his arms behind him quickly binding his hands. His last thoughts were of Arthur before darkness took him.

....

Merlin tried his best to assess his situation without opening his eyes. There was a heavy smoky smell that created a hazy fog that filled his head and wrapped its way around his brain, shrouding everything in a bit of a mist. The ache in his wrists and arms was intense as they supported his weight. His head lolled forward pulling hard on his shoulders and neck. There was a chill to his chest and back as realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. At least I still have my pants on he thought as he realized that he was chained at the ankles as well. But he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. He smacked his dry lips together as he fought to lift the haze, his thoughts suddenly on Arthur and the memory of what happened flooded back to him.

There were no sounds in the room except that of a dying fire. He decided to risk opening his eyes to look. His first sight was of an intricately drawn pattern on the floor, with candles and urns of herbs. He avoided looking at his chained ankles knowing he would see red raised flesh and blood. He allowed his eyes to sweep the room. A long table sat in the middle covered in bottles, herbs, bowls, etc. Strange scrolling symbols were written all over the walls in what looked like blood sending a chill down his spine. He decided to try a small enchantment and found he couldn't tap his magic.

Arthur Pendragon awoke to find himself chained to a wall in an room empty except for a pallet in a far corner and a lit torch on the wall. He shivered as he realized he had been stripped of everything except his pants. He pulled hard at the shackles trying to free himself only earning himself cut and bleeding wrists. He tried shouting but with no results and eventually gave up thinking to conserve his energy. He allowed his thoughts to drift to Merlin. He had seen his manservant fall just as the foul smell had hit him. He assumed they were after him, that as a valuable prisoner they would keep him safe but Merlin wouldn't be afforded any such protection. He tried his best to put aside any thoughts of Merlin being tortured or worse.

....

He knelt at the alter and spoke the incantation, "Ssiel an hwac ghelnak." He then stood and held a rabbit that struggled in his hands. The knife moved quickly through the small, furry animal silencing it. He drained its blood into a bowl on the altar and spoke again as his eyes flashed, "Ghel niak twem." He tossed the dead rabbit aside and took the bowl.

Merlin had spent his time trying to read the symbols on the walls and the pattern on the floor, searching for anything that he might recognize. He could feel "its" presence if he could call it that, something dark and sinister that wrapped itself around anything it could trying to draw it inside and pulling it under. He heard the door open and thought about trying to pretend he was still asleep but didn't think it would really make much difference.

He entered the chamber without looking at the half naked warlock he had chained in the room. He set the bowl on the table and swiftly cast his hand about the room, "Byrne." All the candles in the room were instantly lit including the ones that surrounded Merlin on the floor. Merlin watched as he picked up a mortar and pestle to which he added a number of things but Merlin couldn't make out what exactly. He spoke in the tongue of the old religion, his eyes flashing every few moments as he ground the ingredients together. Merlin watched and listened trying to gleen anything of what he might be doing. He then took the contents of the mortar and added it to the bowl he had brought with him and began to speak, his voice getting louder with each syllable, "Thal ghek ssiel an hwac va toom." His eyes flashed as did the contents of the bowl. Merlin felt a hard lump form in his chest knowing that whatever was coming next couldn't possibly be good.

Bowl in hand, the sorcerer walked toward Merlin with a mix of reverance and hate in his eyes. He hissed, "Emrys."

Merlin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up but said nothing. He decided it best to neither deny or confirm what the man had called him and did his best to keep his expression neutral.

"Your acknowledgment is not necessary." The sorcerer held his eyes for a moment before looking down at the bowl he held. He dipped his fingers into the bowl and stirred for a moment before he drew them out. Merlin couldn't help but stare as the bloody mixture dripped off his fingers.

Merlin squirmed, the blood mixture warm and tingly on his flesh as the sorcerer painted symbols on him. On his chest, stomach, back, arms and finally his face. Merlin realized they were the same as those drawn on the walls. A genuine feeling of terror was beginning to work its way through him.

The sorcerer set the bowl on the ground in front of Merlin and walked back to the table. He picked up a large purple-red fruit and a knife and walked back toward Merlin. Standing in front of Merlin he slit open the fruit and removed a large white perfectly round seed. He placed the remains of the fruit into the bowl and held the seed in his hand as he stepped toward Merlin. Merlin hissed as He cut the palm of his left hand and allowed the blood to drip onto the seed. He then began chanting, "Uath an raene greot min berbay awence lecane."

Merlin began to pull at the shackles with a sudden need to be anywhere else as the symbols on his body began to glow and burn with the spell weaving around him. The scream started low in his throat as his body stiffened and his head arched back as a golden light shot through him, around him, over him, inside of him and filled the chamber.

Arthur jerked his head up at the sound of the door opening. A tall man wearing long black robes and holding a bowl entered. Arthur tried to memorize his face, gray hair and beard with eyes as black as midnight. Behind him two large men were dragging someone between them. They dropped whoever they were carrying on the pallet in the far corner and moved out of the room closing the door.

Arthur was shocked at the sight of him. Merlin, naked, covered in what looked like scorch marks. There were bleeding wounds on his upper body and a large metal collar was around his neck. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!" "I DEMAND THAT YOU LET HIM GO!" Arthur felt desperate and horrified and sick all at the same time as he pulled at the shackles as hard as he could.

The sorcerer wore an expression of triumph on his face as he stepped forward. "Of magic and by magic, it is now time to bind you." He dipped his fingers into the bowl to draw symbols on Arthur, the same as on Merlin, his eyes glowing gold with each symbol. When he was finished the sorcerer placed the bowl in the middle of the room and held up his arms, one in the direction of Arthur and the other in the direction of Merlin. "Uath an raene greot min berbay gehatt maeg min anwhec."

Arthur saw the symbols on Merlin's body begin to glow as strands of blue light shot from the sorcerer's fingertips. And then he felt the burn as the symbols drawn on him began to glow. He clenched his jaw hard as his body began to shake, trying by sheer force of will power not to give in, but the pain was too hot, too much inside and out and everywhere and nowhere at once. He felt as if he was screaming fire before he passed out.

Arthur awoke to sounds of someone calling his name and realized that he was no longer chained to the wall or wearing pants. He scrubbed a hand over his face and sat up, looking for the source of the sound. On the opposite of the room on the pallet he could see Merlin laying on the ground clutching at his midsection. He got unsteadily to his feet and stumbled in his direction, "Merlin."

On hearing Arthur's name Merlin rolled onto his back and looked over at him. "Arthur, help me, please, please." The symbols painted on his body began to glow as Arthur moved closer. Merlin rolled over on his side and clutched himself again as he softly groaned.

Arthur stopped for a moment and stared. A nagging voice in the back of his head said that he had read this situation all wrong. That somehow Arthur wasn't the valuable prisoner and that Merlin had a lot to explain. He tried to be angry, upset as the words of the sorcerer came back to him. Of magic and by magic, it is now time to bind you. Of magic. Arthur knew there was no doubt that he was the by magic. He took another step closer to Merlin determined to learn what was happening. And though he was a little afraid he knelt down beside him.

Merlin looked up at Arthur, his eyes rimmed red with dark circles underneath. If it was possible he somehow looked more pale than usual. "Please." The word came out strained as the symbols across his body flashed.

The second Arthur's hand touched Merlin's shoulder the symbols on his body glowed in sync with Merlin's and he felt a bolt of what could only be described as intense shoot through his body and straight to his penis. Arthur suddenly found himself angry and aroused all in the same moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind was a voice screaming no. He looked down at Merlin writhing, naked on the floor, calling his name as though he could somehow save him.

Merlin didn't understand the nature of the need, the urge, the desperation of the thing that gripped him inside. He couldn't think about anything else except its wants, desires, deep and dark. He wanted, would do anything to give it what it wanted. And yet, he railed against it, willed himself to lay there, make no move, but it was taking all he had . Somehow he knew what it wanted of him but worse what it wanted from Arthur. He secretly hoped Arthur would just kill him.

Arthur closed his eyes as found himself unable to stop and there was Merlin, laying there, clearly incapable of defending himself as evidenced by the odd babbling he had taken up as he squirmed. He reached down and stroked himself almost viciously as he contemplated an act he didn't want to perform. But neither could he stop. Suddenly he was feeling hot, the marks on his body beginning to burn. As for Merlin, he was like putty as Arthur got him onto his knees. The voice screaming in the back of his head sounded like it was being strangled and again the symbols on their bodies flashed, demanding, commanding.

Arthur was sweating profusely as he quickly lined himself up and pushed himself balls deep in one fell swoop. He came at once in the tight heat that was Merlin but it wanted more, craved more, demanded more. He grabbed Merlin's hips and began thrusting in and out in a frenzy that had him screaming and crying, light pouring from both them, until he spilled himself deep inside as Merlin keened beneath him.

As they collapsed on their sides, Arthur pulled out with a wet squelch that made him shiver. Instantly guilt and shame began to occupy the space that desperate need had suddenly vacated. The only good part was that Merlin had become quiet and still. Arthur looked over at him to see his eyes closed though his brow was furrowed. Arthur moved away to the other side of the room leaving the pallet to Merlin. He had no sooner sat down and leaned his back and head against the wall when sleep took him.

.....

Merlin shifted on the pallet as he heard the door open. He looked down at him, "I see it has worked." Merlin felt so incredibly helpless and weak as he laid naked at the sorcerer's feet. "What have you done to me?"

"Why Emrys, I am stealing your magic and bit by bit killing you in the process and there is nothing you can do to stop me." His eyes seemed to deepen in their dark hue as he said that and Merlin knew that what he said was true. "But don't let it be said that I did not show you mercy and kindness for the gift I will receive." He turned around and gestured to his henchman who brought in bowls of food and water, clothing and blankets. "It would not do to have you die before you complete your task."

Merlin felt a bit sick inside as he watched the sorcerer leave. It was in that moment that he knew exactly what the sorcerer had done, exactly what he had needed Arthur for and it cut him to the core. Everything he had been working for, Arthur, his ... their destiny, all swept away by this evil.

Arthur awoke sometime later to find himself covered with a blanket, the chamber cold and still except for the ever lit torch. He could see Merlin on the pallet huddled under a blanket with his back to him. It was then that he noticed a s et of clothes next to him. He quickly put them on and got up to move towards the pallet when he noticed the food and water. It looked untouched and he wondered knowing that Merlin had to be thirsty and hungry too. He poured himself some water into a small wooden cup and moved over to the pallet. "Merlin." 

 

Merlin took a deep breath as he heard Arthur wake, dress and pour a cup of water. He stared at the wall in front of him as he fingered the collar around his neck. He didn't blame Arthur, couldn't blame him. He had been enchanted but not to make him blind or stupid. He was afraid when Arthur would put two and two together and realize that he, Merlin, was a sorcerer. Not that he could do anything about it here. Although Merlin did consider that Arthur could easily strangle him. And while that might resolve a part of his problem, it still left Arthur in the clutches of an evil sorcerer. "I'm sorry," His voice was just a whisper but he was certain that Arthur had heard.

Arthur tried to tap his anger, but it was simply being blocked by the fear he felt at this situation. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, he wanted to scream and rant, he wanted to beat something, but when he looked at Merlin he couldn't think of anything to say. The man who laid in front of him wasn't just a servant, he was a friend and for a moment Arthur tried to put himself in his shoes. "You should drink something."

"Not thirsty." His voice sounded small and defeated and Arthur decided to let it go for now. He settled for sitting there so that neither of them felt alone.

.....

The first time it happened Arthur had been asleep, dreaming of being anywhere else but in that chamber. He awoke with a panic to see Merlin pulling off his clothes, panting he was too hot and begging, "Make it stop. Make it stop." Then suddenly the symbols on his body began to glow until he was completely encompassed and Arthur had to look away. It was then that Arthur noticed the symbols on himself glowing as well but they didn't burn and that they stopped as Merlin was released from the light. Arthur rushed over to him and couldn't help but notice the glow that had settled in his midsection and he could swear that Merlin somehow looked physically different.

Arthur put his clothes back on him and moved him back onto the pallet. He took a cloth that he could have sworn hadn't been there before and put it on his fevered brow. Merlin, for his part, looked a little bit more like death warmed over. A fever seemed to be overtaking him as he thrashed and uttered what sounded to Arthur like pure gibberish but it didn't last long and then they were back to their silence.

....

With no way of knowing it be day or night, Arthur lost track of time, becoming impatient and restless. He went from sleeping to pacing like a caged animal. He searched every corner and crevice looking for anything he could use. He tried to find a pattern in the delivery of food and water but it was clear they waited until he was asleep meaning that somehow they were watching him. He had long become certain that Merlin wasn't capable of putting up a fight so if they were going to get out of this he had to come up with something. They were waiting for him, not just the regular two lunks, but three. Merlin helped him clean the blood off his face before returning to their silence.

....

The fourth time it happened Arthur knew immediately what to do. As soon as the flash stopped he got Merlin to lay on the floor and he poured water through his hair and across his chest trying to cool him. The thrashing and gibberish were standard but it was getting worse. It looked to Arthur like whatever glowed in his midsection was eating Merlin from the inside out and getting larger. If Merlin had been a woman he would have sworn he was pregnant.

....

As time went on Arthur did more than pace. He took up punching the walls and then kicking them to relieve his frustration. Before long he was doing handstands and literally running up the walls. It was clear from the way Arthur went about that he was slowly becoming intensely angry. The effect of the enchantment from the scrolls painted on his body was having less and less of an effect. Merlin worried that he might be becoming a danger to himself.

Merlin had been silent, ashamed, debased and filled with a level of guilt that would choke most. Arthur was more than the prattish prince he served. He had come to like him, care about him, call him his friend. He also knew he owed Arthur an explanation. He sat up on the pallet for the first time in days and watched.

Arthur noticed immediately that he was being watched and took a few extra kicks out on the wall before he stood in front of Merlin. "You're a sorcerer." His voice was flat.

Merlin merely nodded, unable to look at Arthur.

Arthur spoke in the snottiest nastiest prattish tone he could muster, "So why don't you just magic your way out of here?"

Merlin swallowed hard at the harsh tone of Arthur's voice. He fingered the collar, running his finger across the runes on it. He said nothing.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!" Arthur's anger was palpable.

Merlin lifted his head to look at Arthur. He tried to convey all of his sorrow for everything, the lies, the deceit, their situation with a look. His face was all hard angles, sharp with no color except shades of gray. The blue of his eyes seemed faded and flat. None of the happy person he had been seemed to remain.

"No, you don't get to do that, looking at me like some kind of wounded puppy." Arthur kicked and slapped the wall next to Merlin. Arthur gesticulated wildly, "Not after all of this."

Merlin merely took what Arthur offered feeling like he deserved his rage. "So what are you going to do?"

Arthur leaned over so that he was right in Merlin's face, "My head keeps telling me to kill you."

"I can't stop you, " Merlin's voice was quiet and calm.

Arthur just stared at him for a long time. "You want me to kill you." It wasn't a question.

Merlin wanted to say yes, yes, kill me, kill "it" but some part of him didn't want Arthur, the Arthur he considered a friend, to live with that. He simply turned away and lay back down on the pallet.

And so the silence was back.

....

The sixth time it happened Merlin didn't thrash. He just laid there shaking and mumbling as his body burned with fever. Arthur did his best but this was moving past his ability to deal. He was one hundred percent certain that Merlin was pregnant despite knowing that shouldn't be possible. His distended abdomen glowed and moved in a way that was frightening. Arthur found himself oddly drawn to it, like a horrible accident, and at the same time wanted to rip it out, destroy it.

....

Arthur stirred from slumber and saw the door wide open. The two guards were busy with leaving food and making sure Merlin was still alive. He was up and through the door before they noticed.

Soon Arthur found himself lost in a maze of corridors. Each turn he took looked the same until he found himself at a dead end. It was perfectly fitting in this horrible place. Everything led to an end that he couldn't see himself escaping. Arthur screamed and beat at the walls until he couldn't anymore. Certain he was losing his sanity, he sat down and cried until he fell asleep. He awoke sometime later back in the chamber with Merlin not knowing if what had happened was real or not.

.....

The seventh time it happened Merlin didn't recover. Arthur knew death when he saw it. He had seen it plenty of times on and off the battlefield, the body slowly giving in to the inevitable. But never had it been so close. He watched Merlin sweat profusely and stutter in breath while his distended abdomen continued to glow and writhe. Whatever the final result was going to be it would be soon and he knew that his usefulness would end with it.

....

There wasn't dark or light, just quiet but he wasn't alone. There was a presence even if it didn't understand that it was somehow separate, sentient. It flitted about him, exploring, curious, uncertain. He reached out to touch it and found something bright and joyous. It was new and excited and somehow ancient and wise at the same time. He allowed it in, to know him, to seek what it would. His memories came alive as it touched them savoring each moment as if they were truly a treasure. It was learning, growing, getting stronger as he grew weaker. Somehow he knew is time was growing shorter and he greedily pulled forth his own memories, the ones he needed now, the last time he had hugged his mother, kissed Freya, spoke to Gwen, his last meal with Gaius. But it was the last ones with Arthur, angry and bitter, that seemed to break him.

....

It had been hours, maybe more than a day, but Arthur couldn't' tell. He just wanted to stop watching. He wanted everything to be over with. He was exhausted and perhaps a little insane. This whole experience was just a little too surreal for him. Sitting around waiting to die wasn't his idea of living. If he was going to die he wanted to go out fighting but that had been denied him.

Merlin's body began to spasm as the golden light seemed to pull into him. His eyes flew open with shock and he took one last breath as the light overtook him one last time. Arthur had to look away until it subsided. When he looked back he knew he shouldn't have been surprised but he was. Laying atop Merlin's still body was a perfectly pink baby girl with shocking blue eyes and black hair looking directly at Arthur. He reached out to touch her and was instantly pulled into his own mind, his own memories, reliving his own life in spectacularly frightening detail. 

People and places long forgotten flashed through his mind making him reel. Nana Mary long dead .. his childhood friends Henry and Simon .. the pilgrimage to his mother's ancestral home when he was 12 .. the first girl he kissed, Lady Emma .. becoming a knight .. the day he met Merlin .. Merlin drank the poison .. becoming crown prince .. drinking the poison .. kissing Guinevere .. clotpole .. prat. The memories surged all together as he was released with a sudden gasp.

Arthur stared at the child as he attempted to clear his head. He wiped the tears from his face as he realized that never again would anyone dare to call him a clotpole or a prat. In that moment he changed his mind that sometimes there was a man worth your tears. "Gods Merlin, you are turning me into a girl."

The child stared at Arthur as if somehow she knew something beyond the possible. She made no noise as her eyes flashed gold and then her body. It started low and built till it encompassed her. Gold tendrils shot out from her and began to surround Merlin wrapping around him head to toe until they entered his nose and mouth.

Arthur jumped when he heard Merlin take a breath and sit up, his eyes gold. A strong flash spread out from Merlin breaking the collar from his neck. Merlin lifted the now lifeless baby and wrapped it in the blanket that he then fashioned into sling to wear across his body. He glanced in Arthur's direction but said nothing. He then turned to the door of the chamber and raised his hand. He didn't need to speak a spell. The door came off its hinges easily.

He stopped mid-stride as he saw the door ripped from its hinges. The look of shock and fear that played across his face was priceless. Where before his voice had been revarant and hateful, it was now nothing but fear, "Emrys."

"Cylferth." Merlin spoke the sorcerer's name as if it were a spell. He collapsed immediately, screaming as his blood boiled, melting his flesh.

No one else confronted them as Merlin blasted through every door in the old tower until they were outside. He then turned on it, pulling the tower apart piece by piece with his magic until it was nothing but rubble after which he collapsed on the ground and laid there until the gold faded from his eyes.

Arthur wasn't sure why he hadn't run the minute he was free. The seemingly easy way he had killed the sorcerer and then destroyed the tower terrified him in a way he had never been scared before. But he stayed. He merely sat with Merlin, quietly, waiting for him to pull it together.

"We must bury..." Merlin's voice was flat and tired.

Arthur nodded and stood up. He offered Merlin his hand and helped him to his feet. They walked silently through the forest until they found a grove of trees that Merlin felt was suitable. He didn't need to speak as he began to dig a hole. Arthur collected stones and then stood back and watched as Merlin removed the sling unwrapping the child within. He watched as Merlin held it close and kissed it on the forehead before wrapping it again and placing it in hole and covering it over. Arthur helped him build a cairn and then left him to his thoughts.

He made himself useful by building a little fire pit and collecting firewood. Merlin didn't even glance in his direction when he lit the fire for him. He collected berries and used a hollowed out piece of wood he had found by a small nearby pond to carry water. He made two piles of leaves. And then he waited as night fell.

Merlin's voice was so soft that Arthur wasn't sure he had heard it. " He was trying to create a weapon that he could control by stealing my magic but he didn't understand that its source would guide it."

Arthur felt as though he were missing some part of the story, "What do you mean?"

Merlin looked at him thoughtfully, "He thought he was getting a magical blank slate but as is true of all of us we are made up of the people who came before us."

Arthur considered that for a moment. There was nothing left to say. "You should get some sleep Merlin. I have a feeling we have a long day head of us tomorrow."

Merlin nodded as he watched Arthur curl into one of the piles of leaves and fell asleep quickly. He stared at the fire debating with himself for a few moments but knew deep down he had already made his decision. He took his time letting the spell build slowly. It would burn for hours until it had cleared away Arthur's memories. When he awoke in the morning Arthur was feverish and tired, believing that he and Merlin were on the run from bandits.

They walked a day and a half barefoot through the forest with hardly any food or water before a patrol found them. Arthur was none the wiser and merely grateful to get home. 

Merlin made sure that they never passed this way again.


End file.
